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According to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), over 60 per cent of the 8 lakh-plus engineers graduating every year remain unemployed. On the other hand, 39 per cent employers encounter challenges in attracting quality talent.
To fulfil the needs of companies and to tide over the unemployment crisis, engineering colleges and technology institutes have begun engaging with the companies on a real-time basis.
“The industry is getting highly mechanised and digitised and democratisation of tech is happening across all sectors,” said Dr Savitha Rani M, Head Training and Placement, Ramaiah Institute of Technology.
“To meet this challenge, we first meet the corporates to understand the latest trends in the job market. Then, we engage experts to impart pre- and post-recruitment training to our students,” she added.
Industry-academia pact
Dr KS Sridhar, Principal, PES Institute of Technology, said: “The PES Institute of Technology has partnered with General Motors Technical Centre, India; Sansera Engineering; Bosch; Karnataka Engineering Enterprises; Huawei; Electronics for Imaging (EFI); HP; and Niveti.”
He added, “The institution has a strong relationship with the industry, and to give students an opportunity to keep abreast of the industry, academic credit programmes with emphasis on hands-on learning, industry-supported mini/hobby projects, summer internships and final semester internship along with mandatory project work are being offered.”
On a monthly basis, colleges invite industry experts and the top management of companies to impart soft skills to the students.
“Higher engagement with the corporates has become a necessity. It has become a challenge for us to get the students industry-ready in a short time,” said Dr Savitha Rani.
She added: “Engaging corporates intensively has proved productive. Ramaiah has done well in 2019 placement: we got 1,300 offers and still have 40 companies lined up.”
Nasscom initiative
Industry body Nasscom too has stepped in with its ‘Skills Initiative’ to bridge the gap.
The initiative provides employability-focussed skills to youth from tier-2 and tier-3 colleges across India. It utilises CSR funds to train job aspirants on industry needs like Big Data, AI and CRM (customer relationship management, non-voice).
The Nasscom Foundation works closely with the IT Sector Skills Council–Nasscom SSC. The training curriculum is in line with the ‘Qualification Packs’ prescribed for similar skills by the SSC.
In addition to the efforts of educational institutions, the Karnataka government, through its Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, has intervened to connect mentors from the industry with engineering students from rural and backward areas through the ‘College Connect’ initiative.
Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT & ST, who opened first such centre recently, said, “ This initiative will help students in rural areas address problems pertaining to soft skills, and will give them exposure to become job-ready.”
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